The 10th and Final Drink the Link

A Month-Long Celebration of Transit-Oriented Drinking

Unless something unexpected happens, this will be my last birthday in Seattle for the foreseeable future. It's also an exciting time for the region's public transit, with the rail connection across Lake Washington opening at the end of March. Let's go big, but not in a worst hangover of one's life, is this what liver damage feels like, sort of way. It must be something worthy of the 10th Drink the Link, though. We're going to Drink the Link all March long.

Drink the Link celebrates two of my favorite things: day drinking and public transportation. While it started as a single long day of drinking, recent excursions have played with the format. This year, it will involve expeditions of no longer than five stops, spread across an assortment of Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. The main idea has always remained the same: enjoy a drink apiece at bars near a selection of Link stations. Join in when you want, and leave whenever. Drink what you like, alcoholic or not. I just want to ride trains with my friends, and your friends, and their friends. I hope you'll join in.

Schedule

Friday March 6: Kickoff

Arrival Time	Station	Venue
19:30	Stadium	Hatback Bar & Grille
19:30	It's Hatback. It's ok. It's near a stop that has few other things near it.
20:30	SODO	Orient Express
20:30	Trains! Mai Tais! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes! Yes!
21:30	Beacon Hill	Oak
21:30	I love Perihelion. The beer is solid and the food is great. Closing a half hour after arrival time not going to fly, though. Oak is an old Drink the Link favorite, but hasn't been part of it since 2016. It stays open nice and late, in case we want to linger.

Sunday March 8: Birthday Brunch

Arrival Time	Station	Venue
11:30	Pioneer Square	McCoy's Firehouse
11:30	In times of old, when Drink the Links spanned consecutive days (you may know this time as "2023"), McCoy's Firehouse provided a needed source of sustenance and comfort to a badly hungover crew.
12:30	Symphony	Reuben's Brews
12:30	Fine beers.
13:30	Westlake	Retro Restaurant and Lounge
13:30	It's fun when Drink the Link gets weird, and I wanted to get weird by going back to Habitant, the bar within Nordstrom. It is closed, though. Retro is weird in its own ways, I suppose.
14:30	Capitol Hill	Outer Planet
14:30	They have a beer called "Dubliners in Space" and now I can't stop thinking of that awful Star Trek TNG episode. We're drinking here.

Saturday March 14: Drink the Link Goes South

Arrival Time	Station	Venue
10:00	Airport	Sourced Market
10:00	Starting Drink the Link in the airport is an ancient and proud tradition.
11:00	Angle Lake	Las Palmas
11:00	No more walking to that stupid little casino at 08:30! Time for some pupusas instead!
12:00	Kent Des Moines	J J's Bar & Grill
12:00	If Just Left in Lynnwood (which, tragically, has never been a Drink the Link destination) is a sad boomer bar, this is a jolly gen-x bar.
13:00	Star Lake	Star Lake Inn
13:00	This one is a bit of a hike, but it's a neat piece of history. The building dates back to 1893.
14:30	Federal Way	UnderGround Kitchen
14:30	Korean fried chicken to cap off the day's labors.

Saturday March 21: Mostly Ethiopian

Arrival Time	Station	Venue
11:30	Tukwila International Boulevard	Star Coffee
11:30	Let's grab some Ethiopian food and beer.
12:30	Rainier Beach	Union N Bar and Restaurant
12:30	Let's grab some more Ethiopian food and beer.
13:30	Othello	Bang Bang Kitchen
13:30	Drink the Link lost a real one when Taco Street closed. Let's grab a beer here and commiserate.
14:30	Columbia City	Billiard Hoang
14:30	This place is so great. Let's get some buckets of beers.
15:30	Mount Baker	Cafe Ibex
15:30	Let's end by grabbing some more Ethiopian food and beer at this Drink the Link stalwart.

Friday March 27: Transit Christmas Eve

Arrival Time	Station	Venue
21:00	Northgate	Watershed Pub
21:00	This place has a great beer selection. It's a shame this will just be a one and done, but it's how it must be.
22:00	Roosevelt	Teddy's
22:00	Love me a carpet bar.
23:00	U District	The Rebel
23:00	This bar not particularly close to the station, but it's an important selection. This is the bar that took the place of the venerable Kate's Pub, which has loomed large in the Drink the Link era of my time in Seattle. It was never quite close enough to make an appearance on the crawl, but let's change that. Also the food is really good now.

Saturday March 28: Transit Christmas

Arrival Time	Station	Venue
15:30	South Bellevue	Mercer Slough Farmstand
15:30	This is not a bar. There's no beer. We're going to meet here for some nice healthy fruit before heading across the bridge, because that's what we've got here.
16:30	Mercer Island	Roanoke Inn
16:30	I'll make fun of Mercer Island until the end of my days, but this place looks a little old and maybe even a little crusty in a fun way.
17:30	Judkins Park	Slightly Furry
17:30	Cidery run by furries and serving their community, but welcoming all.
18:30	International District/Chinatown	Fort St. George
18:30	We end here, at the confluence of the 1 and 2 Lines. It's symbolic, of course.

Important Notes

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Plans may change if Sound Transit does weekend track work. Currently none is scheduled.
All times are approximate. Updates will go out over email.
This is where I used to implore you to not put a single beer on a credit card. I don't like to stick small businesses with credit card fees on a small purchase, but many places seem to prefer card now, and the days of $3 beers are over. Just in case there's a place where it feels right, bring cash.
Tip well. In 2018, a bartender at Orient Express said that we were the best and easiest bar crawl to ever come through, and that made me really happy. Make this easy and lucrative for the people working.
Don't die. Know your limits and skip a round if need be.
All day regional transit passes cost $6 and can be loaded onto an Orca card.